Fans of the late pop star Liam Payne gathered on Thursday in Buenos Aires to mark the first anniversary of the artist’s death. A makeshift shrine with flowers, images of the singer and candles was placed outside the Hotel CasaSur, in the Palermo district.

Photo: Reuters

Fans gathered to share their memories and mourn the 31-year-old British songwriter. “It brings me a lot of memories,” said Marianela Lucero, a fan of the artist. “He had always been sweet and with hits, songs that fill your soul and touch you. So it was this, the joy in his smile, everything was a joke, he put his best into all he did. This is his legacy.”

The former One Direction member fell from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16, 2024.

Photo: Reuters

One Direction were catapulted to global fame in the 2010s after appearing on the talent show X Factor and they went on to become one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.

Payne, who was still a teenager when One Direction found global success, struggled with the pressures of fame, and he later spoke about his problems with alcohol.

“It’s super painful when they judge him without knowing him because it’s really difficult,” said Yaquelin Perez, another fan of the musican. “There are a lot of people who obviously say things like he killed himself and this and that. But they don’t know what’s behind a mental health process. Depression is so difficult because I’ve also been through a depression. Then it hits me harder as we couldn’t save him. He didn’t have the support to comfort him. Yes, there was his family but many people around him harmed him.”

He launched a solo career after One Direction split in 2016 and released a debut album in 2019.

In February, an Argentine court cleared three of the five people accused of their alleged involvement in Payne’s death.